Monsters Like You and Me
by Philip S
Summary: Excedo Inferi 4: As Buffy tries to salvage some sort of normal life after her and Angel's trip to Hell Xander launches a lastditch effort to get rid of the vampire with a soul.
1. Chapters 1&2

Monsters Like You and Me - Part 1 (Excedo Inferi #4) By Philip S.  
  
Summary: As Buffy tries to salvage some semblance of normal life Xander launches a last-ditch effort to get rid of Angel. Spoilers: General spoilers for the beginnings of Buffy Season 3, though this is an AU version of that episode. You should have read the first 3 stories of Excedo Inferi before reading this. Rating: R Disclaimer: Joss Whedon own all canon characters. The story is mine. Title Picture: www.shadow-dancing.com/Pics/Monsters_Like_You_and_Me.jpg  
  
#  
  
Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:  
  
Buffy and Angel, having fought their way through all nine circles of the Inferno to return to Earth, find that it is not the happily ever after they have dreamed of for thirty years. Only three months have passed in Sunnydale and the wounds are still fresh for Buffy's friends and family.  
  
After much heartache and talking Buffy and Angel are back on more or less even footing with everyone except Xander, whose hatred for Angel is stronger than ever, especially since he found out that Buffy has become transformed by Angel's blood.  
  
Meanwhile Faith, the new Vampire Slayer, arrives in town, finding unlikely friends and allies in a vampire and a Slayer she was told had died.  
  
#  
  
"Tell me again how this is a good idea, Will!"  
  
Buffy looked up and down the corridor of Sunnydale High, aware that more than a few pairs of eyes were currently centered on her. Which really was not that much of a surprise, considering the rumors which had no doubt circulated about her during her absence. Sought for murder, kidnapped from home by a biker gang, all stories that had probably grown in the telling.  
  
Willow stood by her side, clutching a couple of books to her chest, a smile on her face that did not seem completely convincing to Buffy.  
  
"It's just the first day, Buffy," the redhead reminded her. "You have to, you know, get back into things."  
  
"This is not my first day, Will. This is 'Meet-Snyder-and-try-to-make-it-to- a-first-day' day. Mom and I have a date with the gnome in a few minutes."  
  
Buffy did not really remember much about Principal Snyder, the man who had made it his personal business to make High School hell for her. Well, after experiencing true Hell for more than thirty years she had trouble to think of anything really terrible he had put her through, but she certainly did remember that she hated his guts.  
  
And that he had been sort of tiny.  
  
"He can't keep you out of school," Willow gave the door to Snyder's office an evil glare. "You have been cleared of all charges, you're still a minor," Buffy gave her a look, "well, officially anyway. He has to let you study here."  
  
Leaning against the lockers Buffy gave a deep sigh.  
  
"That isn't the issue, Will. He has to let me, though I think he doesn't know that yet. The real point is that I don't even know whether I want to. I mean, I never really fit into this school to begin with, what with the slaying and everything. And that was before I gained three decades on all the other people who are going to sit in class with me."  
  
She looked up to see Harmony chatting with her lemmings, pointing fingers at her now and then. They had passed each other on the way in and Buffy had been completely clueless as to who the blonde girl was until Willow reminded her. Well, reminded was too weak a word, really. Harmony had never really left a lasting impression on Buffy's mind and the redhead had been forced to give her the full story on Cordelia's former second-in-command to spark any kind of recognition.  
  
"Nothing in here holds any importance for me anymore," she sighed, looking down again. "It's nothing but a bunch of stuff that I've long grown out of."  
  
Willow looked her, a hurt expression on her face.  
  
"Have you grown out of ... of me, too?"  
  
Buffy immediately went to gather her best friend in a hug. "Never, Will! I didn't mean you. It doesn't matter that we're not exactly the same age anymore. We're friends. I can talk to you."  
  
Hoping that she had reassured Willow somewhat she let go again. "It's just everything else. Willow, I'm about fifty years old and have walked through all nine circles of the Inferno. I'm living with a vampire who is much closer to me than a husband ever could be. I can't even come here without hiding my true face."  
  
The contact lenses she had to wear in order to disguise her amber demon eyes stung, a constant distraction and discomfort. She had to remember not to smile too broadly lest someone see her elongated canines. Not that smiling broadly had been much of an issue so far. Also there was the fact that her temper, which had not exactly been mellow before, now carried a demonic edge. She really did not know whether she would be able to keep it down if Harmony started spewing venom at her (as she assumed the girl was likely to do judging by Willow's account).  
  
"I don't belong here," Buffy finished, shaking her head.  
  
"Buffy!"  
  
Her mother was coming down the corridor, dressed in her finest business clothing and with an encouraging smile on her face. Buffy smiled back at her. They had gone a long way towards mending the fences between each other these last few weeks, growing closer to being a family once more.  
  
Not least because of Faith, who was pretty much Buffy's stepsister now, having moved into the Summers' home shortly after her arrival in Sunnydale. The other Slayer's tough girl facade was still firmly in place most of the time, but she was slowly learning to drop it around Joyce and Buffy, as well as some of the others. Reaching out to Faith had also lead to both of them reaching out to each other again.  
  
"Ready for the meeting?"  
  
Buffy nodded. "As I'll ever be."  
  
Willow watched as mother and daughter walked off towards the principal's office, glad to see that they walked a lot closer together than the last time she had seen them. It was a bit more than a month now since Buffy and Angel had returned from Hell and slowly, very slowly, things were starting to get back to normal.  
  
Well, except for Faith, the new member of their strange family. Plus Buffy was living with Angel now instead of at home, where Faith had moved in. Then there was the matter of school and whether or not Buffy would come back here.  
  
And Xander. Mustn't forget Xander.  
  
"Everything all right?" Oz appeared at her side, giving her a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Yeah," she sighed, leaning into her boyfriend's side. "Buffy's on her way to Snyder."  
  
Oz said nothing, just looked at the office door and nodded, seeing no need for further words. Which left Willow with the feeling that 'normal' would definitely not be what it used to.  
  
#  
  
Xander walked into the empty classroom where they had agreed to meet, seeing that Amy was already there. The blonde girl was sitting on a table, swinging her legs, and had a rather worried look on her face.  
  
"You found it?"  
  
Amy looked up at him, not in the mood for greetings either. It had been two weeks since Xander had called her, asking for her help. He had told her what had happened, had told her why he needed her help.  
  
She had a very bad feeling about all this.  
  
"I think so," she just said, looking away again. "I went through my mother's things and found a spell that will probably do the trick, but ..."  
  
"When can we do it?"  
  
Amy shook her head. "Xander, listen first, okay? I think the spell will do the trick, but I'm not sure. Considering how much luck we had the last time we tried a spell together ..."  
  
"This isn't like last time," he brushed her concerns away. "I'm not trying to screw with people's feelings or anything. I just want to ..."  
  
Amy jumped up from the table, pacing the room.  
  
"You just want me to work powerful magic for you. Xander, after that little accident last Valentine I pretty much swore off that stuff. There is too much that can go wrong. I mean, didn't you ever wonder why I worked so hard at avoiding you and your friends? I know you're way into all that magic and demon stuff and I really don't want any part of that. I don't want to end up like my mother, Xander."  
  
Xander nodded, understanding why Amy was reluctant. Her mother had been consumed by magic, abusing it to make her sick fantasy about being a cheerleader again come true. She had stolen Amy's body, had mutilated other girls in order to win her place on the team. Then one of her own spells had led to her demise. Or so everyone assumed, as no one was quite sure what had really happened to her.  
  
"This is different," Xander tried to assure her. "It's not about abusing magic to further my own ego trip."  
  
"Isn't it?" Amy looked at him again. "Xander, I may keep my distance but I'm not blind. And from what you told me I can pretty much figure out why you want to do this. Now, I never met this Angel, but if Buffy thinks he's a good guy ..."  
  
"Buffy is not thinking straight! At first because she was just obsessed with him. Do you remember how it was when you were under your own spell? I bet I could have beaten you up or killed someone right in front of your eyes and you still would have chased after me, right?"  
  
"That was a spell, not real!"  
  
"You're right! The real thing is much scarier because you can't say a few magic words and have it go poof. Buffy is so obsessed with Angel that she never saw him for what he truly is and now it's even worse because that bastard has turned her into a junkie. She needs his blood to get her fix. He is a monster, but she will never see that."  
  
He walked closer to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"This isn't for me, Amy! Yes, I will be the first one to throw a party when Angel is gone, but that isn't why I'm doing it. I want Buffy to be free of that bastard. Free to live her life again."  
  
Xander could see Amy wavering, taken by his words. She would do it, she just had to. He was telling her the truth. This was not about him. This was about giving Buffy her freedom back, releasing her from whatever hold Angel had over her.  
  
Maybe if he made Amy believe that he could actually start believing it himself.  
  
#  
  
Part 2  
  
#  
  
Buffy had her eyes closed, taking deep breaths in order to calm down and keep herself from putting her fist into the next available object (or person). The nerve of that gnome. God, she had been so tempted to take out her contacts or give him a really big smile just to see his reaction. For starts.  
  
"What a bitter little man," Joyce shook her head where she stood beside her daughter. "I can't believe someone like him is allowed to be a principal."  
  
Biting back some rather harsh words about Snyder and principals in general Buffy visibly gathered herself, pushing away from the wall she had leaned against. Which was just in time to see Harmony and her posse come toward her with a smug smile on her lips.  
  
"Buffy, so good to see you again," Harmony said, her voice mocking. "Here I thought I would have to visit you in prison."  
  
Joyce was about to open her mouth and give the girl a good dressing-down, but Buffy motioned for her to keep back. She had faced down the hordes of Hell and would not be scared by a little girl like Harmony.  
  
She might kill her, though. Nah, that would be too easy.  
  
"Glad to hear you missed me, Harmony," she said, then put a frown on her face. "That was your name, right?"  
  
Harmony looked flustered for a moment, as if the very thought that someone could forget her was incredibly strange. Then she regained her composure and went on the attack again.  
  
"I love what you did with the hair," she pointed at Buffy's golden tresses, which hung down her back in an intricate braid that reached just past her knees. "Did you get the hair extensions glued on?"  
  
Buffy just gave her a smile and flicked her hair, causing the braid to swat Harmony right across the nose. The girl stumbled back, looking outraged.  
  
"Sorry," Buffy grinned. "Sometimes those hair extensions just get away from me."  
  
Joyce had a hard time stifling her giggles as Harmony was opening and closing her mouth like a fish. Cordelia's place as leader of the dimwits she might have taken, but Cordy's wit she had not.  
  
"Hey, B! The natives giving you heat?"  
  
Faith was coming down the corridor, accompanied by Cordelia, Oz, and Willow, the latter two walking arm in arm.  
  
"Harmony," Cordy baby-talked to her former friend. "what did I tell you about leaving your mouth wide open and gaping like a fish?"  
  
With a sound of outrage Harmony turned around and stomped away, not without a final "You're all freaks!" yelled over her shoulder. Buffy and the others looked on with an air of amusement.  
  
"Wow," Faith shook her head. "I've been insulted lots of times, but never this lamely."  
  
Buffy chuckled, realizing that she had managed to completely push all thoughts of Snyder from her mind for a few minutes. Maybe she should look up Harmony later on and thank her for that.  
  
"How did it go?" Willow looked at her expectantly.  
  
"About the way I expected," Buffy shrugged. "Only over his dead body will I get back into this school. I was really tempted to take him up on that offer."  
  
"This isn't the end of it," Joyce resolved. "That ugly little gnome can spew all he want. We'll go to the school board."  
  
"I don't know, mom," Buffy looked at her. "I'm really not that eager to ..."  
  
"Who needs school anyway," Faith emphasized, patting Buffy's shoulder. "I ditched it over a year ago. Of course G-man just told me he is trying to hook me up with a private tutor, so all that's for naught now. I guess he won't even try to get me past Snyder."  
  
Buffy looked for hints of bitterness in her sister Slayer's voice, but found none. She seemed genuinely content at being here, surrounded by the first friends she had had in years. There was still a lot she did not talk about, like her past, her family, but that was okay by Buffy. Faith had only been among them for two weeks, after all. Things would get better.  
  
"A private tutor," Joyce mused over the idea. "Maybe ..."  
  
"Let's talk about this another time, okay?" Buffy drew her mother down the corridor. "Right now I really want to get out of sight of the gnome's office door."  
  
"We'll see you and Angel at the Bronze tonight, right?" Willow called after her departing friend.  
  
"Sure thing!"  
  
Faith looked after Buffy and Joyce, shrugging. "I don't know how Mrs. S even convinced her to try this. I ditched school at fifteen and she wants to go back at fifty?"  
  
Willow smiled, amazed at how Faith had taken most of the revelations regarding Buffy and Angel in stride. She found herself genuinely liking the dark-haired Slayer, despite the bad girl attitude she still displayed at times.  
  
"Some of us actually like school," Willow told Faith with a mock indignant look on her face.  
  
"Suit yourself, red!" Faith just shrugged again. "I got to train with the G- man. See you tonight!"  
  
Oz shook his head at the departing Slayer. "She's a strange girl."  
  
"Strange how?" Willow looked up at her boyfriend. "Strange as in 'I kick demon ass for a living'? Or 'I'm dating a werewolf' strange? Or maybe ..."  
  
"I rest my case."  
  
"I like her," Willow announced. "She just needs some time to let her guard down."  
  
"And to get some decent taste in clothing," Cordelia added. "Does she own anything except those leather pants?"  
  
"I'm sure Joyce and Buffy are working on that," Willow told her. "Plus Giles might take her shopping some of these days. It's part of the job, isn't it?"  
  
One of the things they had learned was that Faith's former watcher, Joanna Cleary, had actually been Faith's legal guardian. Some kind of trick the Council had pulled using their vast influence. Faith had never complained about that, seeing as what little they knew of her family indicated that she had not been very fond of them.  
  
Now that Ms. Cleary was gone and seeing as Faith would still be a minor for the better part of a year the Council was working on getting her guardianship transferred to Giles.  
  
"Giles and Faith a family," Cordelia frowned. "Having trouble wrapping my mind around that particular image."  
  
"I hear you," Oz nodded, then turned to Willow. "I got band practice now. I'll meet you guys at the Bronze."  
  
"Sure thing!"  
  
With her boyfriend departed that left only Willow and Cordelia, the latter looking at the former with an air of anxiety on her face.  
  
"Have you heard anything from Xander?"  
  
Willow shook her head. "I told him he shouldn't bother talking to me until he mended the fences with Angel. I'm starting to think he never will."  
  
Cordelia sighed. She really did not know why, but she missed Xander. He was an immature brat, an idiot, someone she never should have come close to in the first place, but still ...  
  
"That's just like him," Cordelia grumbled to stop her own train of thoughts. "The heavens should come tumbling down before Xander Harris would apologize to Angel."  
  
Willow noticed that she still felt the impulse to defend her childhood friend, but the impulse was definitely getting weaker. Rapidly.  
  
"Let's hope it won't come to that," she simply said, looking over at Xander's locker. "Let's hope it won't."  
  
#  
  
In the principal's office Snyder dialed a number on his phone and impatiently tapped a pencil to the desk until he was finally connected.  
  
"This is Snyder," he said by way of greeting. "I just had a very interesting meeting with Buffy Summers and her mother."  
  
For a moment he listened to the voice on the other end, then added, "Yes, she has reapplied for school. I will do my best to keep her away, but if her mother goes by the school board I'm afraid I won't have much choice. Since all charges against her have been dropped I do not have a legal reason to keep her out."  
  
Again he listened.  
  
"How should I know? She looked normal enough to me. I will keep you posted on the developments, of course."  
  
#  
  
Mayor Richard Wilkins III. put down the receiver and leaned back in his chair, thinking. It would probably have been too much to hope that all the information indicating the Slayer's return would prove to be false. Buffy Summers was alive and back in Sunnydale, which was not a good thing for his plans.  
  
Plus there was the matter of Angelus. Right now no one was quite sure which side of the fence the vampire was playing. According to some info he had gotten two weeks back he was still evil and had ousted a rival vampire called Kakistos from his territory. On the other hand he had yet to receive any info on the Slayer going after Angelus, which seemed to indicate the opposite.  
  
Plus there was the question of the blonde blood junkie his men had seen Angelus with about a month ago. The one that could not be Buffy Summers, as she was only seventeen years old, while said junkie must have been drinking Angelus' blood for decades, at least according to the expertise he had gotten on the subject. At the same time who else could she be but Buffy Summers? There was absolutely no information on Angelus ever having had any relation to a human which did not end in the human's death or transformation into a vampire.  
  
There was something missing here, he realized. Something he had to figure out before further action could be taken.  
  
"Why do all these things have to happen now," he asked no one in particular. Not surprisingly no answers were forthcoming.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. Chapters 3&4

Part 3  
  
#  
  
"God, will you stop it with the PDAs!"  
  
Buffy looked up at Cordelia's complaint, remembering that they were currently in the Bronze along with their friends. Angel, with his arms still around her, seemed to come out of his daze as well.  
  
"Sorry," Buffy mumbled, again looking at the man in whose lap she sat, "we got kinda distracted."  
  
"No details please!"  
  
They had taken over one of the couch corners in the club, they being Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Willow, Oz, and Faith. Two of whom were currently absent, as Oz was playing on stage with the Dingos and Faith was in the middle of the dance floor, where she was rapidly becoming the center of all male (and some female) attention.  
  
Willow, sitting beside Cordelia, had her eyes glued to her boyfriend and seemed to have missed most of the conversation.  
  
"This is their new song," the redhead said to no one in particular, her eyes shining with admiration. "They'll be sending it to a record studio on LA."  
  
"Sounds ... nice," Angel offered, not really sure that the noise he was hearing was actually music. He wondered if Buffy, too, was reminded of some of the demon howls they had heard down in Hell during their long journey.  
  
Looking around the club, looking at the many people present, it was strange. It was over a month now since their return, a month of getting used to life on Earth again, but seeing so many people all in one place and not a single one of them screaming in pain or undergoing hideous torture ... it was unusual for them.  
  
Buffy leaned against his chest, knowing how Angel felt. He had never been the most social of people, even before hell, and after spending thirty years with no human contact except each other it was hard to remember that there were other people here in this world. Especially, she grinned, when she got absorbed in Angel's kisses.  
  
"You think your mom will mind if Faith brings home a friend," Cordy asked Buffy, drawing Angel out of his thoughts.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I mean the boy toy she seems to have nagged."  
  
Buffy looked where Cordelia was pointing and saw that Faith was dancing (using the term very loosely) with a guy. Said guy looked like he was nearing the bursting point, his hands busily roaming over Faith's skimpily clad body.  
  
"Isn't that Scott Hope?" Willow squinted her eyes. "I think he's in my chemistry class."  
  
"Whatever," Cordy shrugged. "I really have to land myself a new guy, too. This is getting depressing."  
  
For a moment Buffy wondered if Cordelia was missing Xander. She knew that the former cheerleader had broken up with him after hearing what had happened after Buffy and Angel's return. To be honest she had not expected that, at least not from the Cordelia she remembered from before.  
  
People change, she mused, even in three months.  
  
"Let's dance," she told Angel when the Dingoes left the stage and a slow dance came on. "It's been too long since we did that."  
  
Willow and Oz quickly followed them, the redhead having seen little enough of her boyfriend tonight. Which left a lonely Cordelia sitting on the couch, thinking about the boy she would like to dance with right now.  
  
If only he wasn't such a big immature idiot.  
  
#  
  
"So mote it be," Amy whispered. For a moment the liquid in the kettle sparkled and glittered, only to vanish a moment later. The young witch sighed and sat back, rubbing her tired eyes.  
  
"Did it work?" Xander came up behind her.  
  
"It should."  
  
"Good," Xander said, nodding in satisfaction. It had worked, which meant that right about now Angel should get a really nasty surprise.  
  
"No more hiding, bastard," he whispered to himself. "Now everyone will see you for what you truly are."  
  
#  
  
Dancing in the arms of her Angel made Buffy forget about the people all around her, all those unfamiliar scents and noises that had her predator senses in an uproar. A bit earlier she had found herself looking at the long, inviting neck of a young woman, her belly rumbling with thirst. It was at times like this that the changes she had undergone frightened her a bit.  
  
Nothing could frighten her when she was with Angel, though.  
  
They moved to the slow beat of the music, ignoring the rest of the club, only the two of them. They had been a world all to themselves for a long, long time and while Buffy relished being with her friends again she also found that sometimes she just wished for everyone to leave them in peace, just the two of them.  
  
Said peace was disturbed, though, when Buffy looked up into the face of her boyfriend (which was a horribly inadequate word for what he was to her) and found something strange.  
  
"This is not a good idea," she whispered to him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Slipping into game face in the middle of a crowd."  
  
Angel frowned, his ridged forehead furrowing. "I didn't."  
  
Buffy was about to say something else when someone behind her screamed. The two of them immediately turned toward the source, hands automatically reaching for weapons they did not have with them. What they saw stunned them for a moment, though.  
  
"Oz!" Willow was standing beside her boyfriend, who had fallen to his knees. His shirt had ripped open, exposing a back that was beginning to grow fur like crazy.  
  
"This is impossible," Buffy whispered. "It's not the full moon for another week."  
  
"Buffy!" Angel pointed in another direction, where she saw the boy Willow had called Scott stumble back in terror, looking at something with wide eyes. Said something being Faith, who was looking clueless as to what was going on. Faith, whose eyes were glowing silver.  
  
"A monster!" Yet another scream joined the others and Buffy realized that people were pointing at Angel. And at her, too. Looking over to the big wall mirror Buffy saw that her eyes were glowing amber, glowing brighter than she had ever seen them. What had happened to her contact lenses?  
  
"Something strange is going on here," Angel said as the crowd around them began to panic, running for the exits as fast as they could.  
  
"Gee, you think?" Buffy watched in fascination as someone who had appeared as a teenage boy a moment ago suddenly transformed into a vampire, looking confused as hell as he did so. Oz was growling where he knelt on the floor, his clothing in tatters all around them. Faith had spotted herself in the mirror and was looking at her own silvery eyes in fascination.  
  
The unveiled vampire, seemingly realizing that everyone now knew what he was, jumped for the nearest panicking teenager.  
  
"Oh no, you don't!" Buffy was on him a moment later, chagrined that she had left her sword behind tonight. Long steel blades did not really match with party clothing. She dropped the vampire with two quick punches, then looked around for something to kill him with.  
  
"Here!" Angel had jumped onto the stage, throwing her one of the drumsticks the band had left behind. She quickly caught the wooden object and jammed it into the prone vampire's chest, reducing him to dust.  
  
"What is going on here," Willow was inching back from Oz, fear for her life warring against concern over her boyfriend. "Why are you all changing?"  
  
"Not just us," Angel mused, looking around at the nearly empty room. "That other vampire and I both slipped into our true faces without wanting to. Oz is transforming into the wolf without the full moon. Both Buffy and Faith have changed, too."  
  
"This is so cool," Faith was still looking at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were glowing like stars.  
  
"Maybe ... maybe it's some sort of spell," Willow tried to think despite her heartbeat going into overdrive. "Something that ... I don't know ... unveils the supernatural?"  
  
"Could be." Angel and Buffy were both hovering close to Oz, ready to grab him the moment he tried to attack any of them. The werewolf just rose, though, awkwardly standing on legs that bent the wrong way.  
  
"For the record, it's so not cool," Oz growled, his voice barely human, the words just audible.  
  
"You can talk?" Willow was by his side again in an instant.  
  
"It's ... strange," he simply said, looking down at his transformed hands. "By now I should be ... unconscious. Not remembering a thing until I transform back."  
  
"None of this is natural," Buffy concluded. "I think Willow is right. Someone or something is stripping away all disguise from all those who are not quite human."  
  
"What do you mean?" Faith turned toward her suddenly, the light from her eyes almost blinding. "Not quite human?"  
  
"You are human, Faith," Angel calmly told her. "You are also the Slayer, though, touched by some kind of higher power. I guess that is what we are seeing in your eyes right now."  
  
"You guys look really strange," Cordelia commented, one of the few people that had not fled from the Bronze when the monsters had suddenly appeared in their midst.  
  
"I guess so," Buffy commented, looking around herself. Faith with silver eyes that glowed like stars, herself with amber demon eyes despite the fact that she could still feel the contact lenses firmly in place, Angel in game face, Oz in full wolf-mode, and even Willow was looking a little strange. There was a touch of black in her eyes, a sparkle around her hands. Buffy knew that her friend was practicing magic as of late. Had that also become visible some way?  
  
"We need to do something about this," Angel clenched his fist as he tried to force his face back into its human shape, but was met with no success. "We can't exactly go out like that."  
  
A scream sounded from outside.  
  
"But I guess we have to," Buffy sighed. If this was happening all over town she doubted that even Sunnydale's ample supply of happy ignorance would be able to cover this up. There were just too many things around here that were quite definitely not human, no matter how they looked at first glance.  
  
"Let's go!"  
  
#  
  
Part 4  
  
#  
  
All the way to the Bronze Xander was imagining how great everything would be. Thanks to Amy's spell Angel would no longer be able to hide what he was. Everyone would see his face, his true face, see the monster that pretended to be a man. No more masks and pretty half-smiles.  
  
Oh, he was not so stupid as to think that Buffy would go running from him upon seeing his true face. She had seen it often enough, had even gone so far as to kiss it. Hell, her own face was pretty well on the way towards resembling his.  
  
Everyone else would see him now, though, see his true visage. Angel would no longer be able to walk among humans as if he had any right to be one of them. He would have to hide in the shadows all the time, hide from the real people.  
  
Xander did not know whether it would be enough to break him and Buffy apart, but it was a good start at the least. Let Willow and the others try and pretend that Angel was really a human being when he was stuck looking that way. Oh yes, this would be great.  
  
Amy was walking by his side, wanting to see the result of her spell for herself. She had a very bad feeling about the entire thing. Had she done the right thing? She knew nothing about this Angel except what Xander had told her, which was probably a biased point of view, she figured. Still, the spell would do nothing but reveal his true face. If he was really a demon then ...  
  
There were screams somewhere ahead of them.  
  
"What is that?" Amy looked around. Okay, she knew that this was Sunnydale, where there were lots of things that went screaming the night, but still ... it sounded awfully close. God, how had Xander convinced her to do this? And why after dark?  
  
"I guess a few people caught sight of deadboy," Xander said with a satisfied grin. They were approaching the Bronze. "I overheard Willow saying they would go dancing tonight. Wouldn't it be great if he vamped out right in the middle of the dance floor?"  
  
"Yeah, great," Amy mumbled, not really seeing the greatness in something that would no doubt cause a mass panic.  
  
They were about to round a corner that would lead them toward the Bronze when a big mob of people suddenly came running from that direction, all of them looking very much spooked. There were an awful lot of them and they seemed in a hurry, too.  
  
"Out of the way!" Xander pushed Amy to the side, flattening the both of them to the wall of the building just in time to keep from being trampled. The people rushed past, not paying any attention to them at all, fleeing as if the devil itself was behind them.  
  
"That the kind of reaction you wanted?" Amy looked at Xander, pressed close to her. Uncomfortably close.  
  
"Well, something like ...," his voice failed when he looked at her face, really looked at her for the first time since they had left her house to go to the Bronze. With a yelp escaping his lips he took two steps back.  
  
Amy's eyes were gone, replaced by dark purple orbs that glittered with tiny sparks. More of the sparks were swirling around her hands and forehead, like tiny fireflies that raced each other in circles around her body.  
  
"Amy ...," he mumbled, not sure what to say.  
  
"There is another of them!" The yell brought them both back to their senses, Amy still clueless why Xander was looking at her so strangely. That question vanished, though, when she saw that some of the fleeing mob had turned to look at the both of them, looking at them with fear in their eyes.  
  
"I think your spell didn't work exactly like we planned," Xander said.  
  
For a long moment they just stared at each other, stared at the people fleeing from the Bronze, then decided it might be a good idea to run as well. Not in the same direction, though.  
  
#  
  
Diane Steepson had worked as a secretary at city hall for coming up to ten years now and could honestly say that she liked her job, very much so. The hours were decent, the pay was good, and her boss was a friendly and easygoing man. Sure, there were things about Richard Wilkins III. that one had to get used to first, like his phobia about germs of any kind, but all in all she could not have asked for a better boss or for a better man to be the Mayor of Sunnydale.  
  
So it was that she did not mind too much when, just as she had been about to pack up and leave, said boss called her at her desk and asked her to come to his office. She shrugged. Diane did not have to do many hours of overtime and those she did were recompensed quite nicely. Only about a minute after he called she arrived in his office, a genuine smile on her face.  
  
"Mr. Wilkins, what can I ...," her voice died in her throat.  
  
Mayor Wilkins stood in front of the window, having turned toward her as she entered. His office was lit only by the lamp standing on his desk, but that was more than enough for Diane to see his face.  
  
A face that was quite definitely not human.  
  
Her scream was short-lived, cut off after but a moment when someone grabbed her from behind and broke her neck.  
  
"I will dispose of the body, boss," the vampire said, looking at Wilkins for confirmation.  
  
"Please do so," Wilkins said, turning back to look out the window.  
  
So it was confirmed, he thought. Diane's reaction was all the proof he needed. For some reason he could not quite fathom people (and non-people) could suddenly see that he was not quite as human as he always appeared to be. Wilkins was not a man prone to self-deception. The things he had done to ensure himself a long life and power had cost him, he knew that. He had been a human being once, long ago, but these days he was something quite different, looking to become something even more different very soon.  
  
And for some reason people could see that now.  
  
He shook his head. Decades of work had gone into this beautiful town, many years of grooming and cultivating the various beings and forces at work in this deceptively mundane suburban community. It was, after all, not by chance that the public had never found out about the Hellmouth and all the creatures it attracted.  
  
There was a limit to everything, though, even to the blissful ignorance of the citizens of this town. Wilkins had eyes and ears all over Sunnydale and by now he knew that all of the things that normally hid behind human masks and shapes had suddenly lost the ability to disguise themselves. The demons and monsters were out in the open and while people might often be stupid and short-sighted, they were seldom completely blind.  
  
There were slurping noises behind him where the vampire (Tom was his name, if he recalled correctly) was draining the late Diane Steepson. God, he wished he would have taken her out of his office before doing that. Not enough that he would have to go looking for a new employee to replace what had been an above average secretary, no, now he had to worry about bloodstains in the carpet as well.  
  
"This will not do," he shook his head, sighing deeply. "Really, this will not do."  
  
Something had to be done about the quality of his help. And, of course, about this strange new magic that was causing mayhem all over town.  
  
#  
  
Of the various demon species that called Sunnydale their home the vampires were by far the most numerous. They lived in warehouses, abandoned factories, and the caves underneath the town. They traveled through the sewers by day and went out on the hunt at night, easily blending with the population due to the human forms they had stolen, the dead bodies they had taken as their own.  
  
Now things had suddenly changed. For some reason the vampires found themselves unable to slip into their human masks. This was a strange occurrence indeed. Most vampires needed a bit of time after rising to learn the trick, that was true, but once they did learn it they never forgot again. It was just like riding a bicycle.  
  
Hunger being what it was, though, the vampires (as well as quite a few other demon species) quickly came to a decision. Since it was obviously impossible to blend anymore they would not bother trying.  
  
Needs had to be feed, after all.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. Chapters 5&6

Part 5  
  
#  
  
The Fifth Circle of Hell was, for the most part, empty wasteland, looking as if a huge fire had razed everything to the ground just hours or minutes before they walked through it. The ground was hot, Buffy's makeshift shoes barely enough to let her walk on it, and occasionally they saw flames and steam erupting from holes in the ground.  
  
"This is more like it," Buffy said in a sarcastic tone. "We only had to travel through four circles to find the fire and brimstone."  
  
The air was filled with sooth and ashes, staining their skin and demon-hide clothing. Buffy found herself sweating profusely, envying Angel for his cool skin. Then again the heat gave her an excuse to snuggle up against his coldness, which was not exactly a bad thing.  
  
"We should be reaching the city of Dys soon," Angel said, not too fond of the landscape either. Too much fire for his taste. "That's when things are going to get difficult, I fear."  
  
Buffy nodded, knowing what Dante had written about Dys. If even half of that was true they were in for the most difficult part of their journey yet. She shook her head to dispel the bad thoughts. Their journey through the Fourth Circle had spooked her a lot, she did not want to go through anything like that ever again.  
  
Odds were, though, that she would not get her wish.  
  
Time had long ceased to have any meaning for them in this place without the cycles of night and day. It might have been hours since their crossing the river when they first spotted the city on the horizon. It might as well have been days. Both had stopped counting, trying not to think of what the world might be like when they finally got out.  
  
Dys was surrounded by gray walls on all sides, giant fortifications that would make one think they were defending against the most terrible of enemies. Only they both knew that these walls were not meant to keep attackers out. Their true purpose quickly became evident when they heard the first screams hailing from inside. Screams that, even after several years in Hell, sent shivers down Buffy's spine.  
  
"I really don't want to go in there," Buffy mumbled, though neither of them slowed down their steps. Bitter experience had taught them that there was no such thing as shortcuts in Hell. Looking at the gray walls towering before them Buffy knew that there would be no circling around them. The only way to pass through the Fifth Circle of Hell was to through Dys. Everything else was just a waste of time.  
  
"Getting in might be a problem," Angel said, looking up the walls. "According to Dante the Furies at first refused to allow the travelers entry. Only when the guide intoned the name of the Lord did they open the gates."  
  
Buffy unconsciously fingered the small silver cross she still wore around her neck. Thankfully Angel had given her a sturdy chain along with it on that long ago night when they had first met, otherwise she would probably have lost it long ago. As it was it had proved quite useful against a few of the demons they had encountered. Hell's denizens were not any fonder of the cross than your average vampire.  
  
"I don't think we can storm the gates with a single cross, can we?"  
  
"Unlikely."  
  
The Fifth Circle was the last stop for all those who had allowed rage and anger to control their lives and both Buffy and Angel could feel it in the very air around them, had felt it ever since they had crossed the Styx. Aggression was hanging in the air like a fog, getting worse the closer they got to the city. It was making Buffy irritable, evident in the sudden impulse to snap at Angel for dismissing her idea so casually.  
  
She got herself under control. The last thing they needed was to let themselves be controlled by their anger. God knew there was still more than enough between them to turn really ugly should they allow their aggressions free reign, but none of that mattered anymore. They had laid their ghosts to rest these last few years, or most of them anyway, and Buffy would be damned before she allowed some hellish whammy to tear open the old wounds.  
  
As they neared the walls the screams got louder and they could see flames spewing forth somewhere inside, great gusts that reached toward the crimson skies and rained sooth down on them. Looking at the stuff clinging to her arms and legs Buffy actually wished for a return to the Third Circle and its perpetual rain fall. She quickly clamped down on that thought. Who knew who might be listening here in Hell.  
  
After what felt like some more hours they finally spotted the gates. They were almost as tall as the walls themselves and broad enough for an army to walk through side by side. They were also tightly shut and glowed a dull red, giving off enough heat to make Buffy dizzy even from a hundred feet away.  
  
"Okay, I don't think we can go in through there," she said, taking a few steps back, desperately wishing for even a hint of a cool breeze and finding nothing.  
  
Angel's head snapped around to look at her and she saw a flash of irritation in his eyes, but he swallowed back the words he had almost said and cleared his head. This place was really getting to them.  
  
"There has to be another entrance," he looked down the length of the walls. "Some kind of exhaust vent or something."  
  
"Do demons need exhaust vents?" Buffy eyed the gray barrier in front of them warily. "They seem to be blowing off most of their heat straight up."  
  
"Look, you got a better idea?" Angel shook his head again. "Sorry, I didn't want to snap at you."  
  
"I know. Let's try to get through this before we're at each other's throats!" She made a step, then blushed. "In the non-kinky way, I mean."  
  
That actually managed to produce a smile from Angel. "I got that."  
  
So the Slayer and the vampire continued looking for an entrance into the burning city of Dys.  
  
#  
  
Buffy was not sure why her mind insisted in replaying that particular memory right now. The Fifth Circle of Hell was not exactly among her fondest recollections. She had thought things were rough traveling through the fourth, but it had only gotten worse from there.  
  
Come to think of it, maybe it was somehow fitting that she remembered that now. Because things were definitely looking worse.  
  
The whole town was going mad. They had left the Bronze and reached Sunnydale's main street when they saw the first signs of chaos, people running in all directions, pure fear on their faces. They also saw demons. Quite a few actually, none of them even trying to hide.  
  
"They are unmasked," Angel whispered, looking around. "All the demons and monsters, all the things that have passed for human."  
  
"They don't look too happy about it," Oz growled through his wolfish snout, barely able to pronounce the words.  
  
"I guess they figure if they can't hide, why try?" Faith smirked. "Looks like we'll be plenty busy tonight, B."  
  
Taking a stake from her jacket, Faith wasted no time jumping a vampire running past them and buried the wood in his heart. The creature screamed and exploded into dust, but there were more of them. A lot more.  
  
"Some of us have to contain the demons," Buffy said, taking a stake from Faith for lack of her sword. "We also need to figure out what is going on here, though."  
  
She looked at the others. "Oz, Cordy, go to Giles! Maybe he can find out what is going on here. Willow. Any witchy stuff you can do?"  
  
The redhead looked uncertain. "I haven't done this long, Buffy. I can only do some very basic spells and such."  
  
Someone screamed close by. "Do what you can," Buffy told her. "We have work to do!"  
  
Faith and Angel joined her as she ran for the source of the screams. All around her the town was erupting, demons coming forth from the shadows wherever she looked. Most of them looked angry, very much so. Angry that their disguises had been ruined, angry that everyone could now see them for what they are.  
  
Buffy saw her own reflection in a shop window, her eyes glowing with a mixture of their natural demon amber and the same silvery glow she saw in Faith's eyes. Her forehead had changed, too, showing something very similar to the vampiric ridges Angel had. Was this a permanent change or just a result of the spell?  
  
Whoever had done this would have some explaining to do. Buffy, just like pretty much everything else hanging around Sunnydale that was not quite human, found herself pretty angry.  
  
#  
  
Part 6  
  
#  
  
Rupert Giles was one of those human beings that could get so engrossed in a book that the world around him completely disappeared. It would take a thunder crack or a very bright explosion to tear him out of the pages, make him aware that there was actually something else around him than yet more books. To be fair, though, only someone paying very close attention would have heard the faint screams coming from outside. Giles did not.  
  
What he did hear, though, was the very insistent knocking on his door.  
  
"Coming," he yelled, habit forcing him to make sure that stake and crossbow were close to the door, just in case this nightly visitor should prove to be of the vampiric kind. When he opened the door, though, he found himself facing not a vampire but a werewolf.  
  
"Oh God!" He stumbled back, grabbing the crossbow by instinct and lining it up on the creature in front of him. There were some noises coming from the wolfman, but with adrenaline pounding in his ears Giles was not able to make them out as words.  
  
Thankfully the appearance of yet another visitor prevented him from actually shooting.  
  
"Chill, Giles!" Cordelia stood in front of the werewolf. "That's Oz, okay? And he isn't going to eat anyone tonight." She frowned and turned toward the boy in question. "You won't, right?"  
  
Giles swallowed, just able to understand the growled response that sounded very much like a yes. Getting back to his feet he put the crossbow aside, not without a certain amount of hesitation.  
  
"U-unless I'm mistaken," he began, "there isn't a full moon tonight, so how ..."  
  
"That's the question we came to you for," Cordelia huffed, dropping on his couch. "This has been the most terrible night, let me tell you. First everyone around me goes Halloween, then people start screaming as if they haven't been living in a town with more graveyards than all of America combined for years and ..."  
  
"Cordelia, slow down, please!" Giles rubbed his eyes. "What is going on?"  
  
"Oh, okay. We were dancing at the Bronze. Well, the others were dancing. Seeing as I haven't exactly been the most wanted girl around here since that terrible mistake called Xander Harris I was ..."  
  
"Cordelia!"  
  
"Again with the yelling!" She shook her head. "Okay, so everyone was dancing and suddenly they all went 'Grrr' on me. Angel slipped into his fang face, Oz here got all furry, Faith's eyes got replaced with silvery headlights, you get the picture."  
  
Giles looked a bit confused.  
  
"Or maybe you don't. Okay, Buffy was being the bossy take-charge girl again and she theorized that everyone around here who isn't quite human suddenly got unveiled or something. We saw a lot of vampires on the street and none of them are looking very much human right now."  
  
Slowly understanding Giles went over the things Cordelia had said. "So there is something that strips all the supernatural beings of their ability to hide behind human masks, is that what you're saying?"  
  
"Pretty much. Come to think of it, I'm the odd girl out once again. All the others are demons or monsters or something. Even Willow got all weird."  
  
"Willow?"  
  
"She got black eyes and little sparks flying around her hands. Actually that's kinda pathetic. I mean if you're gonna turn into a demon or something couldn't it at least be something better than little sparks flying around your hands? Not that I would ever turn into a demon. Eew!"  
  
Giles sighed. He had been very much worried when Willow had told him she was practicing witchcraft and wished that she could just have stopped after that fiasco with the restoration spell for Angel. Unfortunately the redhead was naturally curious and except for making sure that she did not get her hands on any of the more dangerous books in his possession there was not a whole lot he could do about it.  
  
This was not the time to worry about that, though. Right now they had to figure out what was happening to them.  
  
"They all transformed at the same time?" He looked at Oz. "And you are still ... yourself? Not a mindless animal?"  
  
"Pretty much," Oz growled.  
  
"He stinks, though," Cordelia wrinkled her nose. "He got splashed by a car on the way here. Wet fur isn't exactly a fashionable cologne, you know?"  
  
"We have to research this. My guess would be that someone cast a spell over the town. If we can find out what kind of spell it is we might also find a way to reverse it."  
  
"Great," Cordelia sighed. "Dusty books again."  
  
#  
  
"Amy!"  
  
"What?"  
  
Buffy looked at Willow, who had suddenly come to a stop. The redhead had trailed along with Buffy, Faith, and Angel, who were busy taking out as many of the vampires and demons running loose in Sunnydale as they could.  
  
"We should go see Amy," Willow repeated. "Not to put down my own capabilities as a witch, not anyone can levitate a pencil after all, but Amy is way more experienced. Maybe she can figure out what is going on here."  
  
Angel dimly remembered Buffy telling him about someone called Amy once. It had been during their journey in Hell when they had shared their past experiences and adventures with one another. Of course Buffy had had a lot less to tell than Angel, but it had stuck with him.  
  
Buffy also needed a moment to remember who Amy was. They had never been more than loose friends, or at least she thought so. She did remember that the girl had been a witch, though. Crafty enough to enchant all the women in Sunnydale with a love spell, sending them scurrying after Xander. By accident, that was. Turning Buffy into a rat, now that had not been an accident.  
  
Looking around at the chaos still holding sway over Sunnydale Buffy quickly came to a decision. They could not handle all the demons that had been unleashed by this strange magic, whatever it was. There were just too many of them. She hoped that Giles would find a way to resolve this, but if he did not ...  
  
"Trying can't hurt, I guess," Buffy shrugged. "Faith, Angel, you think you can hold the fort?"  
  
She was none to keen on parting with Angel, but someone needed to try and keep the demons under control. Neither Faith nor Angel had ever met Amy, which left Buffy and Willow to look her up while the others kept fighting.  
  
It was at times like these that she hated her logical thinking.  
  
The dark-haired Slayer threw her stake and impaled a vampire running by, a smile on her lips. In some strange way Faith seemed to be enjoying this. Or maybe Angel's talk about her being touched by a higher power had inspired her somehow. Buffy still was not sure what made Faith tick half the time.  
  
"Sure, leave the bad guys to us," Faith said, her smile never breaking as she playfully elbowed Angel in the side. "Me and the big guy will teach them to stay in at night. Just don't complain if we don't leave any for you, B."  
  
"I won't!" Buffy smiled at her sister Slayer. "Come on, Willow! Let's visit Amy!"  
  
"Be careful, beloved," Angel told her.  
  
"Always!"  
  
#  
  
"There they are!"  
  
Amy and Xander were running for their lives. Not from the demons, though some of them had shown an interest in them a little earlier. No, now it was a group of upstanding Sunnydale citizens who seemed to have decided to take no shit from the monsters suddenly appearing in their midst. Upstanding citizens who had torches and shotguns at home and heroically decided to go after a young girl with glowing purple eyes instead of the scary monsters that were eating people left and right.  
  
Both Xander and Amy were so busy running that they only noticed that they had run straight into a dead end when they almost hit the wall.  
  
"Not good," Xander muttered.  
  
About a dozen men were coming toward them, half of them armed, all of them looking very much angry and scared. Which was not a healthy combination, Xander mused.  
  
"We've had enough of monsters in our town," one of the man growled at them. "Time to do something about it.  
  
Xander found himself surprised when he stepped in front of Amy, facing the advancing guys.  
  
"Why don't you start doing something about the big monsters with the long teeth. Or can you only take on frightened girls you've got outnumbered ten to one?"  
  
"No girl I know got purple eyes," another of the men said. "Out of the way, boy!"  
  
"Now wait a minute and ..."  
  
Xander was cut off when he was hit in the face with the butt of a shotgun. Stars exploded in front of his eyes and his knees buckled, the hard concrete rushing up to meet him. He dimly heard Amy yelling something about the goddess Hecate and there was the squeaking of a rat somewhere close by, then everything went dark.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	4. Chapters 7&8

Part 7  
  
#  
  
Xander was brought out of the darkness when a sharp pain in his ear penetrated the cobwebs, causing him to sit up with a start. He was still in the alley, the dead end where he and Amy had found themselves trapped, and he was alone. Alone except for the rat that had apparently started nibbling at his earlobe.  
  
He needed a moment to organize his thoughts, then looked at the rat again, which was sitting on the floor not two feet away, looking up at him with interest. Amy had done some kind of spell just before he fell unconscious, he had heard her invoke Hecate. The last time he had heard her do that Buffy had turned into a rat for the afternoon.  
  
"Do I know you?" The rat twitched its whiskers at him, but predictably offered no answer. Looking around he saw a pile of clothing not far away from him, collapsed into a heap as if whoever had been inside had suddenly vanished. Or simply shrunk.  
  
Standing up on wobbly legs he made his way over and inspected the clothes. A man's clothing, that much was for sure. For a moment he had played with the thought that Amy might have transformed herself into a rat to escape, but apparently she had tried to defend herself this way.  
  
"Well, if they hadn't been convinced of your witchiness before ...," he mumbled, not really feeling all that humorous. Everything had gone wrong tonight and, turn it around as he might, it was his fault. He had convinced Amy to do that stupid spell and now ...  
  
"Oh God, Amy!"  
  
Xander started running, not really sure where to look, only knowing that he had to find the girl before those scared and stupid people did something to her.  
  
#  
  
Mayor Richard Wilkins III knelt in the middle of a pentagram and studied the book laid out before him. It was a volume that the Catholic Church had gone to great lengths to destroy in the middle ages, burning every copy of it except this one. It had cost him much to get it into his possession, but it was worth its price for the spells it contained.  
  
Including one that might just help him turn this mess around.  
  
He reached down to turn the page, then thought twice about it and wrapped a napkin around his fingers before he touched the worn and stained edges. The blood of quite a few people had soaked into these pages and who knew what kind of germs might still linger there.  
  
#  
  
Buffy and Willow arrived in front of Amy's house, the Slayer wiping the dust of a staked vampire from her jacket. The creature had tried to prey on the two 'helpless' girls and found out that he should have stayed in bed tonight. Buffy was kind of wishing that she and Angel had done the same thing.  
  
"Let's hope Amy is here," Willow panted, resting against the house's fence. "I don't think I can run any ..."  
  
"She's not here," Buffy said, looking at the building.  
  
"How can you ...?"  
  
"I don't smell anyone inside."  
  
Willow gave her friend a look, taking in the almost completely vampiric appearance of Buffy. There were ridges on her forehead now, her eyes glowed like headlights, and comments like that one did not really do much to put Willow's mind at ease.  
  
She just prayed that at least the ridge thing was not permanent, because she could not think of any trick to disguise that.  
  
"Great," Willow just said, shoving her thoughts aside. "Where could she be?"  
  
"I don't know about Amy," Buffy said, "but I recognize one of the scents. Xander was here less than an hour ago."  
  
"Xander?" Willow looked up, a thought coming to her. "You don't think he ..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Do you remember last Valentine? Oh, you probably don't, it was a long time for you, but he and Amy ..."  
  
"I dimly remember," Buffy interrupted her. "Wasn't there something about a love spell or something?"  
  
"Xander wanted Amy to make Cordelia love him again. Only the spell went haywire and made every woman in Sunnydale except Cordelia fall in love with him. Including the two of us."  
  
The two friends looked at each other for a long moment.  
  
"Déjà Vu?"  
  
"No such thing as coincidence at the Hellmouth," Buffy growled, "especially when Xander is involved. That stupid boy will get us all killed one of these days."  
  
Buffy closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. "Xander left here with someone else about an hour ago. I'm not sure, but I'd wager the other scent is Amy. I think I can follow it."  
  
Willow managed to keep her face neutral, not showing how freaked she was every time Buffy did something like that.  
  
"Let's go then?"  
  
#  
  
Xander was still pretty dazed from the blow to his face, but apparently he had not been out too long. When he emerged from the alley he could still see a large group of people down the street, some of them carrying torches, others armed with rifles and shotguns. There were even one or two cops among them.  
  
He could not see Amy, but guessed that these people just might know where she had been taken.  
  
Trying to be inconspicuous Xander ran up and joined the mob, none of whom seemed to mind his presence as long as he still looked human. He said a short prayer of thanks to the gods that both his short-lived possession by a Hyena spirit and that little Halloween stunt Ethan Rayne had pulled had apparently left no visible marks on him.  
  
The mob was marching toward a small building that Xander recognized as a chapel, one of many in Sunnydale. Interesting that no one seemed to notice the oddity of a town this small having so many graveyards, chapels, and yet just one mall and one club. Of course after tonight maybe people would in fact notice.  
  
Inside the chapel Xander almost froze on the spot, just managing not to get trampled by the people rushing in after him. Apart from quite a few men, women, and children who seemed to have taken refuge here (no surprise considering what was going on outside) there was a large crowd of men surrounding something that Xander only knew from those few times he had actually paid attention in history class.  
  
A pyre. Complete with stakes.  
  
"Are you completely nuts," someone yelled. Xander managed to look past the people gathered and saw that a boy was tied to one of the stakes, a teenager with a face that looked like a pin cushion.  
  
Right next to him was Amy, apparently unconscious, a big bruise on her forehead.  
  
"We have always suspected that things were not right in our town," a man in priest garb said, looking out over the assembled people, "but tonight we have gotten proof. The monsters hiding in our midst have been unveiled and it is our sworn duty to exercise God's will on them."  
  
People were cheering while Xander was desperately trying to think of something to do. He had the impression that talking these people out of it was not a good thing to attempt. All of them were scared, very much so. He looked up at the boy tied to the stake beside Amy and almost gasped when he recognized him. The name did not spring to mind, but he had seen the boy in school. Minus the pin cushion face.  
  
Oh God, these people here were going to torch some innocent kids while the real monsters were outside, hunting down people in the streets. This was all his fault, all because of that stupid spell. Was it another part of the spell that caused these people to go medieval on him or were they just so frightened that they lost their minds? He did not know and it was not really important now anyway. He had to do something. Anything.  
  
"I don't know, Peter," one of the men said to the priest. "The girl doesn't look ..."  
  
"She turned Mac into a rat," another intervened, causing Xander to duck back into the crowd for fear of being recognized. "Just muttered some words and shot flashy lightning at him. She's a fuckin' witch!"  
  
The brief spark of sanity seemed to flicker and die as everyone turned to the two kids, murder in their eyes.  
  
"You're all insane," the boy screamed. "I didn't do anything to you! I don't know why this is happening to me!"  
  
No one listened to him. Xander swallowed hard, knowing that time was running out. Some people with torches were standing all too close to the hastily arranged pyre (how did they arrange a pyre inside a chapel so quickly?) and seemed very much eager to start playing with fire. There were at least a hundred people inside, though only twenty or so seemed liable to actually put up a fight if it came to one. Considering the fact that they were all grown men with a few shotguns sprinkled among their number while Xander was all alone and unarmed ...  
  
There had to be something he could do. Anything.  
  
The priest started talking again, but was immediately cut off by someone screaming and pointing at the door. For the second time in ten minutes Xander nearly froze on the spot, his heart skipping a beat when he saw the newcomers entering the chapel.  
  
"Excuse us for interrupting," Buffy said, her eyes gleaming, Angel and Faith standing beside her and looking mightily pissed. "I think you're trying to burn a friend of ours."  
  
# Part 8  
  
#  
  
One look inside the chapel made Buffy glad that she had thought to find Angel and Faith before coming here. The people here were all human, just human, but she could see how frightened and angry they all were. Angry that their blissful ignorance had been trampled on tonight, angry that the monsters were suddenly out in the open instead of safely tucked away in the dark where one could happily ignore them.  
  
At least until the moment one felt their fangs against one's neck.  
  
These were not demons, just frightened people. Which did not make them any less dangerous, especially considering the fact that they were armed and numerous.  
  
"More monsters," someone whispered, Buffy did not see who.  
  
"This is the house of the Lord," a man dressed in priest's garb yelled. He came running toward them, brandishing a cross. "You are not welcome here."  
  
Buffy frowned, remembering that she had experimented with a cross just a few weeks ago. It was another of the things they had not been able to test in Hell, whether or not her changes made her vulnerable to symbols of faith. As it turned out a cross would not burn her, but just like the daylight it made her uncomfortable, as if something beneath her skin was screaming, telling her to run and hide.  
  
Her sister Slayer had no such issues, though. Faith stepped past her, the naughty smile on her lips a devastating addition to her blazing silver eyes, and snatched the cross from the priest's hand.  
  
"I like crosses," she told the paling clergyman. "They have so many interesting uses." She shoved the cross down the front of her pants, causing Buffy to roll her eyes. This was not the way to resolve this without violence.  
  
"Monsters!" The priest edged back from them.  
  
"We are not the ones who were going to burn innocent children at the stake," Angel growled at the man, causing more than a few people to take a step back.  
  
From the corner of her eyes Buffy saw Willow, who had entered the chapel through a side entrance. With her hands stuffed into her pockets to hide the sparks she appeared very much human, as long as no one took too close a look at her eyes. While everyone else was staring at them the redhead slowly made her way over to the pyre.  
  
"This is not your town," a man with a shotgun yelled, though he made sure to keep several other people between them. "We won't allow you to take away our home!"  
  
"Brave little man," Buffy said, her voice almost mimicking Angel's growl. "You hide in here and try to hurt kids while the real monsters are outside, running loose."  
  
For a moment the two parties just stared each other down, neither willing to make the first move. Buffy and the others did not want to hurt these frightened people, at least not much, while said people were afraid of antagonizing the monsters who had invaded their sanctuary.  
  
The click of a shotgun being loaded broke the silence and suddenly everyone sprang into motion. Buffy, Angel, and Faith darted off in different directions as someone shot at them, the blast taking out a large chunk of the door behind them. A heartbeat later they were among the crowd, doing their best to disable the people without actually hurting them. Screams filled the chapel, frightened people ran for the exits.  
  
Willow was close to the pyre when she saw Xander standing close by. For a moment their eyes locked, Willow staring at her childhood friend with a mixture of confusion, anger, and sadness. Xander stared back, looking utterly helpless and thrown. Then the spell broke and Willow looked away from him, leaving him alone with all the emotions she had seen on his face. A part of her heart still reached out to her friend, but she clamped down on it, shoved it away. Right now people needed her help and Xander was not among them.  
  
Xander looked on helplessly as Willow attempted to free Amy and the boy from their bonds, watched as Buffy, Angel, and Faith, all three of them looking strange and inhuman, risked their lives battling a crowd of thoroughly human-looking people who had planned to kill two innocent kids here tonight.  
  
Then he turned and ran.  
  
#  
  
The Mayor completed the spell and sighed deeply, feeling the magic flow through the room, spreading outwards over his town. Decades and more of practicing and perfecting the dark arts told him that he had succeeded. The magic holding sway over Sunnydale was strong, but not on the scales he was used to thinking in. It had surprised him, true, but things would be fixed now. At least for tonight.  
  
Rising from the pentagram he made a short memo to have someone come in and clean the chalk lines from his floor before people started arriving for work tomorrow morning. After checking himself over in the mirror and seeing a human face stare back at him he remembered to make a call.  
  
"Allan," he spoke on the voicebox of the deputy mayor, his closest associate. "Please be so kind as to look me up as soon as you get in tomorrow. There are some loose ends we will have to take care of after tonight."  
  
Checking himself over one more time to make sure that no traces of blood from the sacrifice had gotten onto his suit or tie he closed his office door, heading home.  
  
#  
  
There was an almost audible snap echoing through the room and Buffy felt a change in the atmosphere, as if some kind of pressure she had barely been aware of before suddenly fell away. A heartbeat later she saw Angel's face shift back into its human form, fangs and ridges vanishing without a trace, eyes returning to their natural dark brown.  
  
Angel looked at her in turn and a moment later she brushed her fingers over her face, sighing in relief when she felt a smooth forehead without any ridges.  
  
"Thank God," she sighed.  
  
"It looks like the spell has broken," Angel said, looking around. Faith's eyes had returned to normal as well, no more silver glare. The people all around them seemed dazed, blinking rapidly as if recovering from a blinding light.  
  
"What are we doing here?" Buffy looked at the man who had uttered the question, seeing the look of confusion on his face. "Why are we in a chapel? With a shotgun?"  
  
Everyone seemed completely clueless as to what had happened, looking at each other for some sort of explanation. For a moment Buffy was tempted to make up some kind of story, but then pushed the thought away. Whether they remembered it or not, these people had tried to kill someone tonight. Let them sort out their own confusion.  
  
Buffy and Angel walked to the front of the church, where Willow had managed to untie Amy and a once again human-looking boy.  
  
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you," the boy muttered, shaking with relief.  
  
"No problem," Faith smiled at him. "We aim to please."  
  
"Amy?" Willow cradled the blonde witch, who was only now starting to wake up. From the look of her face someone had clocked her but good. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked around, dazed and confused.  
  
"Willow?" She recognized the redhead. "What ...?"  
  
Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened as the memories came rushing back. Xander. The spell. The people hunting them down. Her eyes darted around and took in Buffy standing behind Willow, took in the dark-haired man standing at her side, their hands casually touching. That had to be Angel.  
  
"Oh my God!" She pressed her eyes shut again, hoping to wake up from this terrible nightmare.  
  
"Amy, are you all right?" That was Buffy's voice. Buffy was asking her whether she was all right? After what she had done?  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."  
  
Buffy and Angel looked at each other. On their way to the chapel Buffy had let Angel and Faith in on their suspicion that Xander and Amy were somehow involved in all this. Amy's mutterings were pretty much a confirmation. Angel dimly remembered last Valentine when Amy's love spell had caused all kinds of wackiness in Sunnydale.  
  
Only this time people had died.  
  
"I'm sorry," Amy continued to whisper, tears welling from her tightly closed eyes. Buffy sighed.  
  
"We should check things outside," she told Angel and Faith. "Make sure that the spell is broken all over town and that all the monsters have gone back to sleep again."  
  
The latter was not a given, they all knew. The vampires and other demons might have come out because their cover had been ruined, but just because it seemed to be back in place now was no guarantee that they would stop their happy night of fun out in the open.  
  
"Willow, can you get Amy home?" Buffy looked at her friend, who nodded silently. Most other people in the chapel had already trailed outside, still confused and looking to get home as soon as possible. Whatever had broken Amy's magic also seemed to have taken their memories, or muddled them at least, and by tomorrow most of them would probably imagine that this night had been nothing but a bad dream.  
  
Except those that had died.  
  
"We should check in with Giles, too," Angel said as they walked outside. "Despite being quite happy that the spell has broken we should find out why it did. I doubt it was God doing us a favor."  
  
Buffy nodded, but did not really listen to him right now. The only thing she could think of at the moment was the face she had seen for a split second inside the chapel, just before its owner had bolted. The face of the person who was to blame for this mess.  
  
She thought of Xander and her body was shivering with red-hot fury.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	5. Chapters 9&10

Part 9  
  
#  
  
"So the spell is completely broken?" Giles looked at Buffy and Angel, while Faith was lounging on his couch, flipping through the channels on his ancient TV. The night was finally over and all of them were very much exhausted.  
  
"It seems that way," Angel said, one hand resting on Buffy's shoulder. "We finished off a few more vampires and demons, but thankfully most of them seem to have called it a night. As far as I could see they were all in human faces again."  
  
"Good, good," Giles muttered, looking over the books spread out across his couch table and desk. Cordelia had gone home the moment the danger seemed past, saying something about needing her beauty sleep. Oz, no longer furry, had gone looking for Willow.  
  
"Hopefully with their cover back in place they will refrain from another full-fledged assault like the one last night."  
  
"We still don't know why the spell broke," Buffy reminded him. "Amy certainly did not do it and I doubt it suddenly ended all by itself."  
  
"Unlikely," Giles agreed. "Plus there is the fact that most people seem to have forgotten the events of last night, which I think is more than this town's usual happy ignorance at work."  
  
"Why do we remember?" Buffy cocked her head at him. "I mean, I get that those of us who turned into monsters might remember, but how come the more human among us didn't forget anything?"  
  
Giles rubbed his eyes. "I think we were all subjected to a mild form of mass hypnosis. It worked on most people because they wanted to forget last night. I can't really blame them."  
  
"So we remember because we want to?" Faith looked at him.  
  
"It's a possibility," Giles sighed, sitting down. "We also have, all of us, first-hand knowledge of the fact that a spell has been cast in the first place, not to mention that we know that monsters are abound in Sunnydale. It would take a very, very powerful hypnotic spell to erase all that. No, I think whoever did this was as surprised as we were and doing his or her best to fix things quickly."  
  
"Any theories on who that mysterious he or she is?"  
  
Giles shook his head. "Considering that this is Sunnydale there might be a very large number of possible suspects. Maybe some witch or warlock managed to break the spell in order to end the carnage."  
  
"Or someone broke it because it did not suit his purposes for all the monsters to be unveiled," Angel offered.  
  
"There's that possibility, too, yes."  
  
Buffy sighed, dropping down on the couch beside Faith, looking spent.  
  
"Xander should really pray that I won't get my hands on him anytime soon." Buffy shook her head. "I don't know what he is going on inside that dense head of his these days."  
  
Giles held back from speaking the first thing that sprang to mind, namely that the boy was not doing much with his head at all these days. In the past he had admired Xander for his fierce loyalty to the Slayer, as well as his talent to lighten even the most grim situation. These days, though, the only thing he could think of was how much Xander had hurt Buffy through that single lie four months ago, as well as his actions after her return from hell. How much he resented the boy for that.  
  
"We need to deal with Xander, that much is true. He did something incredibly stupid tonight and I'm afraid it has gone beyond the point where we can just let it slide and hope he comes to his senses."  
  
"Willow wanted to talk to him first," Angel said.  
  
"Didn't she try that before?"  
  
"Let's hope she has a little more luck this time."  
  
"For his sake," Buffy added grimly, clenching her fist.  
  
#  
  
The sun was just rising outside, but Xander barely noticed. It had been a long night without rest and though he was beyond tired he could not get himself to sleep, not after everything that had happened. So he sat on his bed and stared straight ahead, not seeing the ugly wallpaper in front of him. He only saw the faces of the people who had once been his friends.  
  
All of them had been changed. Even Willow. He had seen her eyes, looking almost like Amy's, had seen the sparks around her hands. His best friend since childhood was turning into a witch. Somehow that had not seemed so scary a prospect before he had seen her like that.  
  
It was not really the issue, though, that much he had to admit. After all, it had not been the people looking like monsters who had tried to kill Amy and that boy last night.  
  
Only the others. The ones that looked perfectly human.  
  
He only noticed that someone else had come into the room when said someone stepped into his line of sight. Willow's eyes met his when he looked up.  
  
"Are you happy now?"  
  
The question confused him for a moment, left him unable to answer.  
  
"You almost got a lot people killed last night," Willow continued, her mouth set in a harsh line that made her resolve face look downright harmless and friendly. "Scratch that, some people did get killed for real because of the spell you made Amy do. Was it worth it?"  
  
"I ...," he began, but could not find the words.  
  
"What?" Willow walked closer to him. "Speak up! What did you hope to get out of that?"  
  
"I ... I just wanted ... the spell should only have hit Angel, not the rest of you. I just wanted ... wanted you to see."  
  
Willow looked at him for a long moment, then laughed bitterly.  
  
"See? See what? That Angel carries a monster inside of him? Boy, that really was big news to all of us."  
  
"You don't see!" Xander surged to his feet, pacing the room. "You only see that handsome human face he puts up. Sure, he slips into demon mode when he fights, but that's all. Once that's over he's all nice and human again and none of you see."  
  
"See what, Xander?" Willow gave him a sad look. "That he is the man who ruined your life by the simple fact that he made Buffy fall in love with him instead of you?"  
  
"This is not about ...," he began.  
  
"It's never been about anything else," Willow interjected. "God, Xander! We went through this very talk just a few weeks ago, remember? I thought you learned something. Angel's carrying a demon inside of him has never been your issue, only your excuse. You seem to think that all our lives would have been just wonderful if he'd never been here, but guess what? Most of us would be dead if not for him. Buffy certainly would. He saved all our lives at one point or another with total disregard for his own safety."  
  
"He turned her into a monster, Willow!" Xander clenched his fists, trying to stop the tears from running down his cheeks. "He made her ..."  
  
"Still nothing new," Willow interrupted again. "He did what he had to do to keep her alive. Yes, Buffy has changed. Thirty years of hell will do that to a person. Yet you don't care about any of that, do you? Have you managed to forget your lying to her yet? Or is that the next step on your self- delusion program?"  
  
"I'm sorry for that," he whispered.  
  
"You're only sorry that things did not work out the way you wanted them to. You're sorry that she did not kill Angel that day. Or sent him to Hell without her by his side. Or at least failed to figure out that you lied to her."  
  
Xander did not know what to say, so he just rested his forehead against the ugly wallpaper and prayed that all this would just go away. Willow looked at him, a tiny part of her still wanting to make him feel better, but her resolve was stronger than that.  
  
"What did you achieve with all this, Xander? You lost all your friends, your girlfriend, and if you have even an ounce of self-respect left by now it's one heck of a miracle. Was it all worth it?"  
  
A moment later he heard her leave, the door clicking shut behind her.  
  
"Was it all worth it?" The question seemed to echo inside his skull, bounce back and forth until he wanted to press his hands to his ears. He had not wanted things to happen this way. Things should have been different. Better.  
  
And who was to blame for the fact that they were not? Try as he might, Xander could only come up with one answer that would not immediately shatter under Willow's echoing words.  
  
#  
  
"Are you all right?" Oz was waiting for Willow outside Xander's home, seeing the sad look on her face.  
  
"No, I'm not," she mumbled, walking into his embrace. "I don't even recognize him anymore. God, Oz, he was my best friend for so long and now ..."  
  
He soothed her, stroking her hair as they walked away. Oz had never been a man of many words and that was not about to change, but his outward silence did not spread to his thoughts. He tried to figure out what was going on with Xander, if for no other reason than it was hurting Willow.  
  
Oz knew all about bitterness, about being angry because of things beyond your control. When he had first learned about the wolf he had seethed with anger, though no one would have known looking at him. If anything he had gotten even more stoic and reserved after that, afraid of the beast that slumbered inside him.  
  
Xander was not the type to hide things behind a stoic façade. He was the kind to lash out at the things he perceived as the cause of the bad things in his life. Somehow Angel had gotten himself elected as Xander's scapegoat and now the boy was incapable of seeing past that. As long as that was the case all his attempts to make things better would have the exact opposite effect because he was fighting against the wrong opponent.  
  
Xander was his own worst enemy and before he did not realize that nothing would change. The sad thing was that Oz had no idea how to make him realize that. So he said nothing, just held his girlfriend. Then he thought of something else.  
  
"Would you mind a complete change of topic?" Willow looked up at him, curious.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Amy's spell. Somehow it unleashed the wolf, but I was in control."  
  
Willow smiled, understanding. "You think we might find a way to make that permanent?"  
  
Just a few words, Oz mused, and they understood each other. Maybe he could not help Xander fight against his enemy, but maybe Xander had unintentionally given Oz a chance to successfully fight his own battle.  
  
#  
  
Part 10  
  
#  
  
  
  
It was just past noon when the door to the mayor's office opened, a man in a sharp-cut blue suit entering and giving a disapproving glance to the open blinds. Richard Wilkins looked at the man, then at the windows, nodding in understanding.  
  
"I am sorry, how thoughtless of me. Allan, would you be so kind?"  
  
The deputy mayor gave the newcomer a nervous glance, then quickly proceeded to close the blinds and plunge the room into twilight.  
  
"Thank you!" The man proceeded into the office, closing the door behind him, sitting down in the chair facing the mayor's desk.  
  
"Thank you for coming so quickly," the mayor smiled at his visitor. "I realize that this is not the best time of day for you, but the matter at hand is rather delicate and urgent."  
  
"I'm a very delicate person." Finely manicured hands folded as the vampire leaned back in his chair.  
  
"Good to hear it," Wilkins smiled at him. "Would you care for a refreshment?"  
  
"Certainly."  
  
"Allan, your neck please!" The deputy mayor froze for a moment, his eyes widening with dread. Wilkins sighed. "A joke, Allan. Could you please get our guest a drink from my special bottle?"  
  
"Ah, of course, sir."  
  
Wilkins shook his head, facing his visitor again. "I am sorry. I fear Allan is still getting used to some of the more extraordinary activities around this office. Plus he has very little sense of humor."  
  
Allan quickly returned and handed the vampire a wine glass filled with thick red liquid.  
  
"Thank you!" Mr. Trick took an appreciative sip.  
  
"To the matter at hand, then," Wilkins said, crossing his legs. "I have a little loose end to tie up. Loose ends are not good. They tend to come back to haunt you long after you have forgotten them. I am a great believer in thoroughness, Mr. Trick."  
  
"I heard about the troubles you had last night." Trick took a piece of paper from his black leather suitcase, reading. "Something about all the vampires losing their ability to appear human?"  
  
"You are up to date? That is good. Yes, that was unfortunate business last night. I am sure you understand, Mr. Trick, that something like this can seriously hamper the smooth running of a town."  
  
"I can imagine."  
  
"I would tie up the matter myself," Wilkins sighed, "but there are many things on my to-do list at the moment and I'm afraid time has become something of a precious commodity to me."  
  
He frowned for a moment, looking around his desk. "Allan, where is my to-do list?"  
  
"I believe in your left drawer, sir."  
  
"Oh, there it is. Thank you." He went over the list for a moment. "Yes, as I told you. No time to spare. Plus I have made some rather unfortunate experiences concerning the quality of the hired help around here. Can you imagine that I had to fix things up myself last night? There are so few people left who actually strive to deliver quality work these days."  
  
Trick leaned forward a little. "I understand, believe me. In all honesty, though, the thought of working in Sunnydale again is ... how shall I put it ... not exactly soothing to me. I, too, have had some rather unfortunate experiences around these parts."  
  
"Ah, yes," Wilkins nodded. "I heard about Kakistos. Terrible thing that happened there."  
  
Trick shrugged. "One of the dangers of letting things get personal."  
  
"Yes, how true. I understand your worries, Mr. Trick, but this matter does not concern either the Slayers or Angelus, the latter of which I think is responsible for Kakistos' untimely demise, is that correct?"  
  
"He was there, yes," Trick confirmed. "Seeing as my job was done by that time, though, I did not stick around for any formal introductions."  
  
"Sensible," the mayor nodded. "Well, as I said, this does not concern our mutual friends. As you guessed it is about the events of last night."  
  
Wilkins took a small wooden box out from behind his desk, carefully placing it in front of Mr. Trick.  
  
"This is a very important year for me, Mr. Trick," he began, his face very serious now, no trace of the friendly politician remaining. "I am on a tight schedule and distractions are not something I suffer lightly. The power I had to spend last night was needed for other ventures. As things stand I will have to modify my plans. I do not want something like what happened last night to happen again."  
  
He nodded at the small box. "This will help you track the person who cast the spell over my town. Find him or her! Deal with the matter!"  
  
Trick took the box with a big smile on his face. "This should not be too much of a problem."  
  
"Good!" Wilkins' smiling face returned in an instant, leaving none of the hard lines that had been there but a moment ago. "Allan will take care of the monetary matters. I trust you will have this resolved soon?"  
  
Trick checked his watch. "In about eight hours or so."  
  
#  
  
"That's everything?" Willow looked over the list Amy had given her.  
  
"That's the spell, yes," Amy sighed. "I hope it can help with your friend. Just a tip! Don't try and cast it on a vampire! Could lead to difficulties."  
  
Willow saw Amy shivering, the self-loathing in her eyes, but could not think of anything to say. Amy had been the one to cast the spell, no matter that she would never have done so without Xander's prodding. If nothing else she held partial responsibility for what had happened.  
  
"While you're at it," Amy continued, interrupting Willow's train of thoughts, "take it all with you!" She pointed at the large chest where all her mother's magic books were stored. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to be around this stuff."  
  
Shaking her head Willow saw down beside Amy, putting a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"You made a mistake," she said softly. "Don't kill yourself over it, okay?"  
  
"I made the same mistake twice!" Amy shook off her hand. "I listened to Xander and played around with forces that I have no business using. It's that kinda stuff that turned my mother into a monster. I don't want to end up like her." There was a tear gleaming in her eye.  
  
"Then don't!" Putting the list of the spell ingredients in her pocket Willow scooted closer to Amy. "You're not a bad person, I know that."  
  
"Do you?" The blonde witch looked at her with desperation on her face. "I don't know that anymore."  
  
"Try to help us fix things then," Willow told her. "This spell here could do a lot to help a friend of mine. Plus we need to figure out who broke your spell. There are a lot of things we could use the help of an experienced witch with."  
  
"I'm not an experienced witch," Amy denied. "I'm an amateur dabbling with things that ... that get people killed."  
  
Willow patted her shoulder, not knowing what to say to her anymore. She almost laughed, thinking about how much this little talk differed from the one she had had with Xander just this morning. Amy knew she had done something wrong, unlike other people she could name. The only question was, of course, whether knowing that would help her any.  
  
"I'll be back tomorrow," Willow just said, rising from her seat. "I'm sure I'll need some more help with this spell. You'll help me, right?"  
  
Amy looked up and managed to give her a shadow of a smile. "You really want to risk having my help?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then ... okay! But I'm telling you right now, I won't be the one casting this spell again. Under no circumstances!"  
  
"I understand."  
  
Amy dropped her head back onto the table as Willow left, trying to get a grip on her whirling thoughts. How could she have been so stupid to help Xander? Again? Small magics like making a teacher think she had given her a brilliant test, that was easy. How come she had not learned to stay away from the big things yet?  
  
Granted, the spell had not appeared all that big at the start. Just a simple spell, aimed at a single person, not doing anything but bringing that person's true face to light. Easy as pie, right? No more difficult than ... than a love spell.  
  
Groaning she pounded her head on the table a few times. She needed a moment to realize that there was another pounding to be heard. One on the door. With another groan she rose, strolling toward the front door, opening it to peek outside.  
  
"You forgot anything, Will..." Her voice trailed off when she looked into the face of the vampire standing in front of her door.  
  
"Good evening, Miss Madison," the suited demon greeted her. "How nice of you to step outside."  
  
Amy had half a second to realize that making even half a step outside her own door at night could be a very big mistake, then she was violently pulled towards the grinning demon and her scream cut off abruptly.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. Chapters 11&12

Part 11  
  
#  
  
"Is it always like this?"  
  
Buffy looked up, having been lost in her own thoughts for a moment. Faith, Angel, and her where finishing up patrol for the evening.  
  
"What do you mean?" Buffy looked at the dark-haired Slayer.  
  
"Up and down," Faith said. "I mean, yesterday all the demons and monsters came out to party and we were staking them left and right. Then we have tonight and things are deader than Angel over there." She gave the vampire a smile. "No offense, big guy."  
  
"None taken," he smiled back. Much to Buffy's relief Faith seemed to get along pretty well with Angel after having gotten over the initial shock of him being a vampire. There was the occasional odd glance and Buffy had noticed that Faith never turned her back on him, not even for a second, but that was to be expected. It had only been a couple of weeks after all. She was sure that, sooner or later, the only looks Faith would give Angel would be the ones that contained little in the way of wariness and quite a lot in the way of drinking in his looks.  
  
"This is nothing," Buffy just shrugged, seeing no point in getting jealous after everything she and Angel had gone through together. "Wait until the next apocalypse comes along."  
  
"You have one scheduled?"  
  
"No, but I'm sure someone else has. There's always someone."  
  
Things certainly were dead tonight, for which Buffy was infinitely grateful. Not only because it meant she and Angel could go home early and maybe spend some time not thinking about things like school, Xander, Amy, and the latest demonic threat. Just the two of them, together with no distractions.  
  
"B, I wanted to ask you something else," Faith said, walking closer to Buffy.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I .. well, you know the G-man is trying to get the Council to pull some strings so he can be my legal guardian, right?"  
  
"I know, yes."  
  
"Well, while we talked to them on the phone the Council guys also said that they want some kind of report from me. You know, something like where I was during the weeks between ... between Joanna's death and coming here, what I think of the situation here, the likes."  
  
Buffy nodded, seeing where Faith was going with this.  
  
"Now, I realize we don't really know each other that well yet, B, but I got some vibes here and, well ...," Faith looked at Buffy. "They don't know you're back, right?"  
  
"No, they don't," Buffy admitted, "and I would very much prefer for them to go on not knowing about it."  
  
"That's what I figured, seeing G-man's reaction when they talked to him on the phone. But ... why? I mean, they're the good guys, right?"  
  
Buffy sighed, looking for words to explain. "Faith, I ... the Council has always had a ... problem ... big problem with my being with Angel. They didn't do anything about it, except having Giles give me some stern words now and then, but I could tell they weren't very happy about it."  
  
She looked at her lover, who was walking two steps behind them, sensing their need for some privacy.  
  
"Things haven't exactly improved, at least not from their standpoint. Not only am I, the Slayer, sleeping with a vampire, I've also partly transformed into a vampire myself. I'm not really sure what they would do when they found out about that, but Giles and I both think that it is best for them not to know. As far as they are concerned I'm dead and gone. It's better that way."  
  
Faith nodded, looking thoughtful. Buffy was just glad that Faith was not like Kendra, a Slayer raised by the Council from a very young age. Even though Kendra had come around to accept Angel, had even helped her save him, she was quite sure that the other Slayer would never even have considered lying to the Council.  
  
"Okay, I'll keep my mouth shut," Faith shrugged, "but don't you think that they might get a clue eventually? The two of you haven't exactly been lying low since coming back."  
  
"We'll deal with that if and when it happens," Buffy said, giving Faith a thankful smile. "I just don't want to think about it now, you know? There are quite enough things on our plate at the moment."  
  
"I hear you. You figured out what to do about that little friend of yours? Xander?"  
  
Buffy sighed. So much for not thinking about any of her problems tonight.  
  
"Not really, no! Right now I think I'd rip his head off the moment I saw him, so I guess it's better to keep some distance between us. I'm still holding out some hope that Willow can screw his head on right."  
  
Faith nodded again, still getting used to the character dynamics in this very odd circle of friends she seemed on her way towards becoming a part of. She did not know much about Xander, had never met the guy even. There was still a lot she did not know about the events surrounding Buffy's trip to Hell and Angel's preceding turn to badness. Despite her curiosity she realized that it would take some time until they all felt familiar enough around her to loosen up.  
  
She hoped it would happen soon. No matter her tough exterior Faith desperately wanted to have some friends, people she could really trust and rely on. It was something she had never really had before, at least not since she had been very little and her family had still seemed solid and wonderful. She wanted it. God, how she wanted it.  
  
She just prayed that she would not fuck it up again, like she had so many times before.  
  
#  
  
Xander slowly walked toward Amy's house, dragging his feet with every step. If someone had asked him to describe his feelings at the moment he would have mumbled something about feeling like a man about to jump out of a burning building. He knew he had to jump, there was no other way, yet jumping seemed every bit as bad or worse than dying in the flames.  
  
No matter how he looked at things, it did not change one simply fact. He had fucked up. Big time. It was not Angel's fault, it was not Buffy's fault, it was not the latest demonic threat's fault. Just his. Xander Harris, number one idiot in the world, had fucked this up all by his lonesome.  
  
He had gotten people killed. It was right there in the morning paper. There was some talk about a virus that made people go nuts or something in the water, the usual attempts at explaining things that no one really wanted to explain. There were hard facts as well, though. Cold, hard facts.  
  
Seven people dead.  
  
A terrible chill had spread through his body seeing that one headline, those few words printed black on white. Seven people dead. Not vampires that exploded into ash, not monsters that vanished in a puddle of black slime. People. Seven people whose lives had been snuffed because of his attempt to lay it on Angel.  
  
He knew that, unless he did something, he would go mad. He had briefly considered going to the police in order to confess everything, but quickly banished the thought. What would he tell them? You see, officer, I convinced this teenage witch I know (no, her name is not Sabrina) to do a spell for me. I wanted to unveil that vampire who is dating a friend of mine. Only the spell went haywire and unveiled all the monsters in town, who got really pissed and started killing people. Yeah, he could just see them believing him.  
  
"What did you achieve with all this, Xander? You lost all your friends, your girlfriend, and if you have even an ounce of self-respect left by now it's one heck of a miracle. Was it all worth it?"  
  
Willow's words echoed in his head, repeating over and over again. What had he achieved? All his friends were gone, at the very best disgusted with him, if not filled with outright hatred. He gave a bitter laugh. Did he not deserve it? His lie had sent Buffy to Hell. His attempts to drive Angel away had only managed to drive a wedge between him and Buffy, bringing her even closer to the vampire. His attempts to make everyone see Angel for what he was had gotten seven people killed.  
  
Self-respect? Right now Xander wished that some car would just run him over and be done with it. Or maybe a vampire should come out of the woodworks and kill him, would that not be a fitting end to it all?  
  
Too easy, a voice inside him said.  
  
As much as everything inside him was revolted with the thought, there was only one thing he could do. Try to make it right. Not with some spells, not with more self-delusion, but by doing what Willow had told him to do several weeks ago.  
  
Apologize. Stand up to the fact that he had made horrible mistakes and apologize to the people who had been hurt because of it. First and foremost among them being Angel.  
  
Try as he might, Xander could not work up the nerve to actually look up the vampire. The thought of apologizing to that monster ... he quenched that thought right at the start. Familiar thought patterns, Xander Harris. No use repeating them all over again. That was what got people killed.  
  
Seven people were dead. Some part of his mind seemed to delight in repeating that statement several times a second.  
  
He had to apologize, but he could not start with Angel. He knew that it would not work, he would not be able to get out the words. Even thinking of Angel's face sent fresh surges of anger through him. No, if this was supposed to work he had to start slow. Start at the bottom.  
  
Because of him Amy had done that spell. He figured that the witch would be broken up now as well, blaming herself for listening to him, blaming herself for the deaths. It was not her fault. She never would have done it if not for him. He needed to tell her that, needed to tell her that she had done nothing wrong, her only mistake having been to listen to him.  
  
She needed to know. He had to tell her. Maybe that would help him work up the resolve to do the other things he needed to do.  
  
He reached Amy's house shortly after dark and there was no vampire in sight, no one to spare him this painful task. Another bitter laugh escaped his throat. This here would be easy. Amy had never willfully hurt anyone. She did not deserve to feel guilty about something like that. Apologizing to her should be easy.  
  
Xander tried to remember a single instance when he had apologized to someone and meant it. Really meant it. For some reason he could not think of one right now.  
  
About to knock on Amy's door he realized that the door was ajar. He frowned, instantly growing suspicious. People did not leave their door's open in Sunnydale, no matter the fact that the really dangerous predators of the night would not be hindered by a door, only by a lack of invitation. Still, it was strange.  
  
Carefully pushing open the door Xander looked inside, not daring to call out for anyone. Amy had told him that her father was away on a trip, meaning she was the only one supposed to be in the house.  
  
His heart skipped a beat when he saw a few drops of blood on the floor.  
  
"Amy," he called out, carefulness forgotten. "Amy, where are you?"  
  
He ran through the living room of the house, skidding to a stop in the kitchen. He froze, incapable of doing anything but stare at the body lying on the floor in front of him. A body pale from loss of blood, a small puddle of crimson staining the floor beneath a slashed neck.  
  
Amy's eyes seemed to look directly at him, accusing him with their emptiness.  
  
"Oh God," he whispered, his throat completely dry. "Dear God, no!"  
  
There was a knife right next to her, lying on the floor with her blood staining the blade. Xander's eyes traveled to the knife, then back to her throat. His stomach heaved as looked at the ruined flesh, seeing a glistening piece of spine. Xander pressed his hands to his mouth, quickly running out to puke on the carpet of the living room.  
  
Amy was dead. Someone had taken a knife and killed her. She was dead. Amy was dead.  
  
As soon as his legs started working again Xander ran from the house, his thoughts tumbling all over each other and only one standing out clearly.  
  
He needed help.  
  
#  
  
Part 12  
  
#  
  
The seizures that held her body in their grip slowly subsided as the sweet taste of Angel's blood filled Buffy's mouth, her elongated canines buried in his neck even as he was drinking from her. Uniting like this caused the world outside to cease, nothing existed but the two of them and the blood that was pumping through both their veins, driven by a human heart and vampire magic.  
  
After both their hunger was sated they let go, each lapping at the other's wounds until the tiny marks closed once more. For a long moment they just rested in each other's arms, reluctant to move apart, but then Angel spoke. "Ready to go?"  
  
"Huh?" Buffy's thoughts were fuzzy, the question not making sense.  
  
"Giles?" Angel gave her a slightly teasing look. "We're meeting him and the others, remember?"  
  
Buffy groaned, remembering. Giles wanted to meet to discuss the matter of a certain foolish boy whose name she refused to think at the moment. Willow had tried to talk to him today, but had little luck it appeared. Plus there were a lot of questions still surrounding last night, the identity of the spell-breaker just one of them. Then Willow wanted to somehow use the spell to help Oz control his wolfy side.  
  
All of which meant that it would be yet another late night for all of them.  
  
"Crap!" Buffy slipped out of Angel's lap with obvious reluctance, reaching for her discarded clothing. "Isn't it enough that we already went patrolling tonight?"  
  
They hurriedly dressed and made the short walk to the school, slipping into the library. Most of the gang was already there, Faith sitting on the large table and swinging her legs. Willow and Oz were bent over a piece of paper and several musty books, while Giles was on the phone, talking to someone. Only Cordelia was missing and Buffy did not know whether she would show tonight.  
  
"How goes, Will?" Buffy plopped down next to Willow. "Any luck with Amy's spell so far?"  
  
The redhead sighed, leaning back. "I'll need Amy's help. I'm afraid my own talent's as a witch are nowhere near ready for something like this."  
  
"You'll figure it out," Oz said, his voice filled with confidence in his girlfriend, which caused Willow to smile. Not for long, though, as another part of the spell drew her attention.  
  
"I'm almost used to the fact that spells are in foreign languages," she complained, "but why several different ones in a single spell? Why couldn't they keep it simple? I don't even know what language that is."  
  
Buffy looked over her shoulder. "That's Ventru, a demon language," she said. "It says ..."  
  
"What?" Willow turned to look at her.  
  
"I said it says ..."  
  
"How do you know a demon language?"  
  
"Angel taught me," Buffy said, which earned her nothing but a blank stare from her best friend. "What? Hell didn't offer much in the way of fun and games, Will. We couldn't spend all our resting time ... you know. So he taught me stuff."  
  
"Languages?"  
  
"A few."  
  
"How many?" Giles was standing behind them, causing Willow to jump a little. The Watcher seemed quite fascinated. Buffy counted on her fingers.  
  
"Gaelic, German, French, Latin, Japanese, a few demon languages ... what was the one with the grunts?" She looked at Angel.  
  
"Glukaar," he told her. "Spoken by the Lomar and the Priomortu."  
  
"Yeah, right. I probably suck at writing them. There wasn't much in the way of paper and pencils in Hell, but I got the speaking parts down pretty pat."  
  
Willow was completely speechless and even Giles needed a moment to compose himself after that little revelation. It was another reminder of how deceptive Buffy's outward appearance had become. They all knew she had been gone for thirty years, but looking at her tended to make them forget. Then she pulled something like this.  
  
"That's ... ah ... good," Giles finally said. Inside, though, he was wondering why a girl that spoke so many different languages still bastardized the English language the way all American teenagers did.  
  
Buffy just gave him a smug smile, looking very much like a student who had managed to outclass the teacher. "Thanks!"  
  
"Yes ... ah, there are other matters we need to deal with now. For the moment the potentially beneficial uses of Amy's spell are not our number one priority. No offense meant, Willow."  
  
"None taken," the redhead closed the book. "Besides, the next full moon is still two weeks away."  
  
Buffy tried to read anything on Oz' face, wanting to figure out how he might feel about the possibility of gaining control of his wolf. His face was as stoic as ever, though.  
  
"I just talked with a colleague of mine who is an expert for counter-spells and the likes," Giles informed the others. "I gave him the outline of the spell and according to him breaking it would either require a very skilled mage or one with a lot of power at his disposal."  
  
"It could not have been that hard, could it?" Willow looked at Giles. "Amy isn't that experienced a witch."  
  
"She isn't, no," Giles agreed, "but unfortunately the casting of such a spell is much easier than breaking it. There is also the fact that I believe one of the reasons for Amy's spell misfiring the way it did to be the Hellmouth. It's presence enhances magical spells, makes them more powerful than they would normally be. Therefore a spell that can be cast by a relative beginner would need quite an expert to break."  
  
"Oh," Willow said. "I guess I should be very careful then, right?" She gestured at Amy's spell lying before her.  
  
"Very much so, yes. Anyway, we should start researching known mages with the necessary skills to do this. I'm afraid, though, that our records, both here and with the Council, are rather incomplete in this area. Most powerful mages like to remain in the shadows, not announcing their existence."  
  
"So you're saying our chances of finding whoever did this in the dusty books are small?"  
  
"Yes, Faith, I fear that is the case."  
  
No one was particularly looking forward to doing a research session with the odds of finding anything worthwhile this low, but no one had a better idea. No one except Angel that was, who left to interrogate Willy and some other snitches he knew. It earned him a few glares from the others who could not think of any reason to skip out of reading boring books.  
  
Faith, Oz, and Buffy had their noses buried in said books when Giles sat down next to Willow.  
  
"You talked to Xander today?"  
  
"I tried," Willow nodded wearily, "but I'm not sure it was any good."  
  
"We have to do something about this." Giles took off his glasses, rubbing his tired eyes. "Xander has done quite enough damage. We can't afford to just let this go, hoping he will have learned his lesson."  
  
"I know, but what can we do?"  
  
Their conversation was cut short when the library doors flew open and the object of their discussion came barreling in, skidding to a halt in front of the table.  
  
"Guys," Xander began, out of breath and covered in sweat.  
  
Buffy rose from her chair, her body trembling with barely suppressed fury.  
  
"What do you want here?" Her voice was little more than a growl. She had taken out her contact lenses earlier as they tended to start chaffing after a time and now glared at Xander with her amber eyes flashing.  
  
Xander refused to meet her gaze, clearly scared and confused.  
  
"Look," he panted, "I know I don't really have the right to ask you guys for anything after what I ..."  
  
"Damn right you don't," Buffy interrupted him, stepping out from behind the table, closing in on Xander. "Maybe you should think real hard about getting out of here while you still can."  
  
Giles was a bit taken aback by his Slayer's words, but nevertheless stepped between them. No matter how much he might deserve it, Buffy would hate herself afterwards should her demonic temper cause her to harm him in any way.  
  
"What do you want, Xander?" He gave the boy a cold look.  
  
"I ... I know I fucked up. Sorry doesn't really cover it, I know that, but ... something happened. I ... I went by Amy's house and ..."  
  
"Why? So you could have her do some more magic for you?"  
  
Giles gestured for Buffy to calm down, then looked back at Xander.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I wanted to apologize," he said, looking down. "Apologize for dragging her into this. None of this was her fault, I should never have ..."  
  
He was interrupted again, but this time Buffy was not the cause. The library doors flew open once more and Principal Snyder entered, followed by two men in police uniform.  
  
"There he is," Snyder said, pointing at Xander.  
  
The two officers advanced on the boy, who seemed frozen to the spot.  
  
"What is the meaning of this?" Giles looked at Snyder, who just grinned.  
  
"Xander Harris," the first officer said, "you are under arrest for the murder of Amy Madison."  
  
"What?" Willow jumped up from her seat. "Amy? Amy is ...?"  
  
"You have the right to remain silent." Handcuffs snapped shut around Xander's wrist, freeing him from his shock.  
  
"No," he stuttered. "I didn't ... this is ..."  
  
"Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."  
  
"What is going on here, Snyder?" Giles had walked up to the principal, who smiled up at him with a satisfied gleam in his beady eyes.  
  
"Interesting, isn't it? Another of your little proteges seems to be a murderer. I begin to see a pattern here."  
  
Buffy had retreated a bit, not wanting anyone to get too good a look at her eyes, but now she glared at Snyder with pure hostility.  
  
"You little ...," she began, only to be cut off by Oz, who quickly moved in front of her and shook his head. Buffy fumed, but managed to reign in her temper. Technically she was trespassing on school grounds, seeing as she was no longer a student. She would bet that Snyder would take every excuse to have her arrested as well.  
  
"I didn't kill Amy," Xander yelled, his hands now cuffed behind his back. "She was already dead when I found her, I didn't do it."  
  
"That will be for the judge to decide." The officers grabbed him, hauling him out of the room. Willow, Oz, Faith, Buffy, and Giles looked after them, events having gone too fast for any of them to really react. Amy was dead? How could Amy be dead?  
  
"I will advise the school board," Snyder told Giles as the cops left with Xander, "to launch an investigation into your activities here." He looked at the people present. "I smell more arrests coming on." With that he left, the library doors swinging shut behind him.  
  
Willow fell into her chair, shaking her head.  
  
"Amy is dead?"  
  
  
  
THE END 


End file.
